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BJP, Cong, INLD candidates file nominations for Baroda bypoll
Turncoat Kapoor Singh Narwal also submits paper on the last day to enter the fray
Four prominent candidates — BJP’s Yogeshwar Dutt, former Sonepat zila parishad member Indu Raj Narwal of the Congress, Joginder Singh Malik of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Kapoor Singh Narwal (an independent) — filed their nominations for the November 3 Baroda assembly byelection on Friday, the last day to enter the fray.
The Baroda seat had fallen vacant after the demise of Congress MLA Sri Krishan Hooda.
Congress, INLD bet on old workers
Leader of opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda backed his old worker Indu Raj Narwal as the party’s nominee for the Baroda bypoll after party’s Haryana unit chief Kumari Selja ‘opposed the nomination of an outsider (Kapoor Singh Narwal )’.
INLD candidate Joginder Singh Malik had also contested the 2019 assembly elections from Baroda on the party ticket and had polled 3,145 votes. Wrestler-turned-politician Dutt, who hails from Baroda’s Bhainswal Kalan, had joined the saffron party ahead of the last year’s elections and lost to Congress’ Sri Krishan Hooda.
All the parties pitched their candidates by keeping the caste equations in minds, experts say. The INLD has won the constituency from 1977 to 2005. The saffron party’s nominee has never won from Baroda, which has 54 villages. Half the voters here belong to the Jat community.
The Congress and the INLD have pitted Jat candidates, from Narwal and Malik sub-castes, which are quite influential in Baroda. The BJP backed Dutt, a humble Brahmin, whose caste has the second largest votes in this constituency.
The Congress and the INLD have urged the voters to elect their candidates, who belong to the farming community, saying that their victory will boost the morale of farmers protesting against the agricultural laws, while the BJP maintains that Dutt has brought laurels to the nation and a wrestler has no caste.
Former education minister and BJP state chief OP Dhankar said, “Yogeshwar is son of all farmers, who fed him ghee and milk when he won medals for the country. He has joined politics to serve people.”
Selja created hurdles for me: Kapoor Singh
Kapoor Singh Narwal, who was confident of getting the Congress ticket till Thursday afternoon, filed his nomination as an Independent and said, “Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Deepender had called me to Delhi for the Congress’ ticket, but party’s state unit chief Kumari Selja created hurdles.”
“The people of Baroda will elect an MLA, not a party. I’m contesting to highlight their plight, particularly those of farmers, labourers, and women,” he said at a meeting at his native village Kathura.
